All Out of Love

Bestseller Wilde fumbles her second Cupid, Texas steamy contemporary romance (after Love at First Sight). In high school, plump Lace Bettingfield wrote a private letter declaring her love for jock Pierce Hollister. Her cousin stole it and printed it in the school newspaper, to Lace’s eternal shame. Twelve years later, Lace has a Ph.D. in plant science and is running the town’s botanical garden. Pierce is now a pro football player, but an injury to his leg cost the Cowboys the Super Bowl and may have ended his career. He returns to Cupid to recuperate and help his ailing dad run the family ranch. Still feeling humiliated, Lace rebuffs his charm, so he sets out to seduce her. Pierce deals with sibling rivalry, his sick father, and disability; after town funds are embezzled, Lace is forced to ask celebrity Pierce to help with a fundraiser to keep the garden open. The two overcome their awkwardness in no time and fall repeatedly into bed. Obscure puns about botany and football slow the pacing of this sex-heavy, romance-scanty story. Agent: Jenny Bent, Bent Agency. (July)